Ministry of Tribal Affairs
TRIFED celebrates its 34th Foundation Day
We must focus on livelihood centric development programmes for our tribals and tribal villages: Shri Arjun Munda
Key Highlights:
- The event also was organized to raise awareness among one and all regarding the issues related to trade in tribal areas, and the need to ensure a fair deal for the tribes in the commerce of their products.
- TRIFED has instituted awards to recognize Van Dhan Self Help Groups , VDVKCs, tribal artisans, forest produce gatherers and people working for them for their achievements and contributions.
- Shri Arjun Munda also emphasized the importance of being competitive and professionalism in today’s market based age while marketing of tribal products.
TRIFED under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs celebrated its thirty-fourth Foundation Day today at the TRIFED Head Office, New Delhi which was graced by the Minister of Tribal Affairs, Shri Arjun Munda.
On the occasion, Team TRIFED  reiterated its commitment towards the transformation of tribal lives. It was not only a celebration of the Foundation Day, the event was also organized to raise awareness among one and all regarding the issues related to trade in tribal areas, and the need to ensure a fair deal for the tribes in the commerce of their products.
Speaking at the event, Shri Arjun Munda congratulated the team TRIFED and said,
“I am pleased to note that TRIFED has doubled its efforts throughout the pandemic in aiding the tribal people in employment and livelihood generation and working steadfastly towards its mission of tribal empowerment through enterprise and commerce”. The Minister said it is commendable that TRIFED has taken up a transformational initiative for tribal livelihoods encompassing large number of tribal persons spread out in far-flung areas of the country. Highlighting the importance of Van Dhan and UdhyamShri Arjun Munda said that the forests and the tribal people living there along with the forest produce are our capital. The Prime Minister has given the vision that through value addition of our forest produce, we can take the forest products to the international market. But professionalism and competitiveness are the key words in today’s market based economy which must be the focus while marketing of tribal products, the Minister explained. Shri Arjun Munda said that for proper working of the Self-Help Groups under the Van Dhanprogramme in an enterprise mode, they must be given training in basic financial management and also be connected to the banks and other financial institutions for their systematic growth. He further added that the reach of tribal products should be expanded with the help of social media and the number of GI tagged tribal products should be increased. As we celebrate Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to mark 75 years of India’s Independence, we must focus on livelihood centric development programmes for our tribals, the Minister added.
Reiterating TRIFED’s commitment and setting forth its mission for the next coming years, Shri Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, TRIFED said that over 8% of India’s population are Scheduled Tribes . Currently our appreciation of them is mainly for their diverse and unique culture, handicrafts and songs. However, TRIFED is trying to strengthen their livelihoods and make the tribes economically self-reliant in their traditional habitat. This is the call of Atmanirbhar Bharat. And it is with this focus in mind, TRIFED is working towards the tribal cause.
TRIFED has been implementing several noteworthy programmes for the empowerment of the tribals. In particular, several achievements are worth mentioning. As per TRIFED, over the past two years, procurement of MFP has gone up from Rs 30 cr to Rs 1843 crores. The Van Dhan tribal start-ups, a component of the same scheme, has emerged as a source of employment generation for tribal gatherers and forest dwellers and the home-bound tribal artisans. In less than two years, 37,362 Van Dhan Self Help Groups , subsumed into 2240 Van DhanVikas Kendra Clusters  of 300 forest dwellers each, have been sanctioned by TRIFED out of which 1200 VDVK Clusters are operational. This has secured employment for 6.77 lakh tribal forest gatherers. Under Retail Marketing, a total number of 141 Tribes India Outlets have been opened till date. This has gone up manifold from only 43 outlets in 2015-16 . Over the past few years, in its endeavour to boost and promote tribal products and boost market development, TRIFED has organized thirty-three AadiMahotsavs which are an exhibition-cum-sales of tribal handicrafts, involving 5930 artisans, to generate a cash-flow of Rs.244.79 million to their homes.
Over the past decades, TRIFED has been steadily upping its activities and bringing in various interventions. With the successful implementation of the ongoing initiatives and many more upcoming ones, TRIFED pledges its commitment to put together concrete steps that will benefit the tribals across India. Team TRIFED thanks its well-wishers, patrons, and partners for their cooperation and support through these years in the noble cause of tribal upliftment.
As India turns 75 soon, and the country is celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, awards have been instituted by TRIFED to recognise Van Dhan Self Help Groups , VDVKCs, tribal artisans, forest produce gatherers and people working for them ,for their achievements and contributions. During today’s event, identified tribal VDSHGs, tribal artisans and people working for them were awarded by Shri Arjun Munda. The awards were given in various categories like implementation of MSP for MFP, VanDhanYojana, adoption of digital technology, innovation and creativity, sales generated , training, number of VDVK clusters established among others.
Pl click here for list of awardees.
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